An Institute of Medicine committee chaired by CHP/PCOR fellow Kenneth J. Arrow has released a report recommending that wealthy nations and international aid organizations subsidize the cost of new anti-malaria drugs to more effectively combat the disease, which kills an estimated 1 million people a year in poor countries and is becoming resistant to the currently used drug chloroquine. Providing the newer, more effective therapies known as ACTs (combination therapies based on the compound artemisinin, which is taken from a Chinese plant) will cost an estimated $300 million to $500 million annually, according to the report, which was released July 20. While chloroquine costs just 10 cents a pill, ACTs carry a much higher cost of about $2 a dose.

The report also recommends a centralized agency to buy ACTs from drugmakers and resell them to groups that can distribute them to malaria-infected regions; monitoring by countries to ensure that ACTs are widely available; continued research into new anti-malaria drugs; and support for environmental controls such as spraying to eliminate mosquitoes.